فصلنامه مدیریت زنجیره تامین
پیاپی 70 (بهار 1400)

The supply and demand management and planning of the blood supply chain have complexities considering the uncertainty in demand and supply. The supply uncertainty often results from the random demand as well as unpredictable and irregular behavior of the people involved in blood donation as the only source of blood supply.  In addition, the perishability and short lifespan of blood and blood products are the problems that should be considered.  Adequate and healthy blood supply plays an essential role in health systems.  Therefore, the prediction of demand to prevent endangering the patients’ health due to the inventory shortages on one hand, and increasing inventory which increases wastages and government expenses on the other hand, have attracted the attention of researchers.  Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to predict the demand for blood bank products using neural networks.  Neural networks have the ability to properly predict the future based on certain trends of the past by adjusting some parameters.  To collect the necessary data for this research, the statistics, databases and computer networks of the blood transfusion network of Zanjan province have been selected. For data analysis, the existing facilities and functions of the MATLAB software have been used. Based on previous demands of blood products, the research findings demonstrate that the best neural network model to predict demand has two delays and five neurons in the hidden layer.  The results also show that the error values in all three blood products are close to each other but have different values.

Timely responsiveness to the requirements of the organisation and an orderly supply in right quantities, with the right price and quality, from the right supplier, at the right time and place can never be achieved except through integration within every level of the organisation, namely suppliers, storage and distribution units, transportation and other logistics service sections. Bearing in mind the significance of integration in logistics organisations and bodies, this research defines a comprehensive concept on integration in logistics, investigates existing literature on the subject and further attempts to present a throughout conceptual framework and definition on supply chain and logistics integration. In this regard, the present study initially investigates the definitive concepts in an array of domains and in particular, supply chain and logistics, and goes on to analyse past studies in terms of dimensions of integration, integration model, integration evaluation and case studies. Based upon the existing body of literature the present research then analyses the components of the logistics integration model in two domains of dimension and elements of integration and ultimately presents a conceptual model framework for logistics integration.

Today, the strategic and important role of warehousing in reducing the supply chain costs is recognized,  and distinguished as one of the competitive advantages in the supply chain. Managers have to make better decisions to improve performance. There are various models for performance appraisal and the lack of a framework for evaluating the stock of spare parts is felt. Therefore, in this article, first the dimensions and indicators of a framework are determined by a thorough study of performance appraisal models, related literature and expert sessions, resulting in 9 dimensions with 10 indicators for each dimension. Then the framework is designed through a validity and reliability questionnaire, and after removing the indicators that do not obtain the required scores, the final framework is obtained and used to evaluate the car parts warehouse. Then according to the status of the warehouse and the scores it has obtained, existing solutions for improvement are brought forth. These solutions are then ranked considering the effectiveness and simplicity criteria and a roadmap is presented to improve the level of warehouse performance.

One of the important features of frozen food when delivered to end customers is the quality, which depends on several factors such as the time it takes to transport the food from suppliers to consumers, the optimal temperature and humidity of the vehicle refrigerator, number of times the refrigerator door is opened and closed, the initial temperature of the frozen product depth during loading, the speed of unloading food when delivered to the refrigerator, etc. One of the problems in the frozen food transportation system in one of the country's military organizations is the number of times the refrigerator door is opened and closed while delivering cargo to different places, as well as the inadequacy of the refrigeration discharge platform. Hence, to tackle this issue the types of refrigerated food trucks worldwide are observed and the construction of freezing cold storage platforms in the world is discussed. Finally practical suggestions are made to solve this problem and improve the quality of frozen food items.